Holster for firearms



April 14, 1964 A, STELLA 3,128,926

HOLSTER FOR FIREARMS Filed March 15, 1962 United States Patent 3,128,926 HOLSTER FUR FIREARMS Frank A. Stella, Lyndhurst, N.J., assignor to The Hubley Manufacturing Company, Lancaster, Pa, a corporation of Pennsylvania Filed Mar. 15, 1%2, Ser. No. 179,915 2 Claims. (Cl. 2242) This invention relates to a holster for firearms, more particularly toy weapons or guns such as those ordinarily known as revolvers.

A primary object of the invention is to provide an integral holster and hanger made from a single blank stamped out of sheet material. Heretofore, it has been the general commercial practice to make holsters of two parts, namely, a holster pocket and a hanger formed separately and then connected so that the hanger may be supported by the belt of the user.

Accordingly, a primary object of the invention is to provide a one-piece holster made from a novel form of blank readily stamped from sheet material to provide an integral belt or strap hanger and a gun pocket made by simply folding a portion of the body of the material backwardly at one edge of the blank and connecting the opposite free edge to the hanger itself leaving the front of the pocket free of laps or seams and open at the bottom to receive the barrel of the gun.

Another object of the invention is to provide a holster from a blank which has only one face to be furnished with ornaments or legends while the blank is flat, the other face being left unfinised, thereby avoiding added cost.

A further object is to provide a holster which approaches the maximum simplicity of manufacture with consequent economical complete production which makes it a highly competitive item while retaining sturdy structural features which are particularly desirable in connection with small firearms in general.

With the above and other objects in view which will appear as the nature of the invention is better understood, the invention consists in the novel construction, combination and arrangement of parts, hereinafter more fully described, illustrated and claimed.

A preferred and practical embodiment of the invention is shown in the accompanying drawings, in which:

FIGURE 1 is a plan view of the holster blank.

FIGURE 2. is a perspective view of the completed holster as viewed from the front or outer side.

FIGURE 3 is a rear elevation.

FIGURE 4 is a cross-sectional view taken on the line 44 of FIGURE 2 Similar reference characters designate corresponding parts throughout the several figures of the drawings.

Referring to the drawings, FIGURE 1 illustrates the blank from which the holster is made after it has been stamped from sheet material. This blank includes a body designated gene-rally as A which may be conveniently referred to as having sections A and A at either side of a vertical center line x-x. A hanger B is located at one side of said vertical center line x-x above the section A of the body.

A distinctive feature of the invention is that, at the junction section A of the body A and hanger B, there is provided a slot C disposed relatively horizontal to the general vertical axis x-x of the blank. This slot is closed at its inner end C and open at its outer end C so that the lower portion 1 of the slot will form the upper edge of the holster when a portion A of the blank is folded backwardly as will clearly appear from FIGURES 2, 3, and 4, to move the front section A forwardly.

The upper edge of the section A of the blank is shown as having an upstanding shoulder 2 so that when section A is folded backwardly, along line x--x, the inner face of the section A will overlap and contact the inner face of the front section A In other words, by folding the section A backwardly and onto the rear face of the body A, the upper edge 1 of the sections A and A of the body will be thrust forwardly of the plane of the hanger to form the entrance end of the holster pocket.

The overlapped and registering sections A and A of the body may be secured together by any suitable fastening means such, for example, as the rivets 3. In that connection, one of the rivets 3 may pass through the shoulder 2 and the related portion of the hanger B when the blank is placed in folded form.

The hanger B may be provided with any suitable means for attachment to a belt or strap, such for example, as the slots 4.

As will be seen from FIGURE 1, the face of the blank B which is to be exposed to view may be readily and easily ornamented by printing thereon any suitable decoration while the back or rear face of the body may be left unfinished.

Thus, by utilizing the blank of FIGURE 1, a number of advantages result, namely; that the blank may be easily and readily cut from sheet material; the face of the holster which is to be exposed may be ornamented by stamping, printing or the like; while the folding of the body back upon itself with the area at the righthand side of the line xx as viewed in FIGURE 1, and securing it to the back or rear face of the hanger portion B causes the portion of the section A to move outwardly beyond the plane or exposed surface of the hanger B as it would be attached to or suspended from a belt, a strap, or the like, to form the gun pocket P.

The pocket P, as shown, is open at its upper end to receive the barrel of a gun while the lower end is also open to permit the muzzle of the barrel to pass on through, thereby readily adapting the completed holster to guns of different barrel length. In addition, it will be seen that the upper edge 1 of the holster body may be cut or slit in such a manner as to readily receive the triggered guard of the gun.

From the foregoing it will now be seen that the objects stated herein are fulfilled by the structural features and arrangement of parts shown and described.

I claim:

1. A one-piece holster for firearms, comprising, in combination,

a body including,

a hanger portion having front and rear faces,

a gun pocket integral with the hanger portion and including,

a front section projecting outwardly from the plane of said hanger portion and a rear section folded around behind said hanger portion and secured to the rear face thereof,

a substantially transverse slot in said body, the two edges of said body forming said slot defining the top opening of said pocket, one of said edges forming the top of said front section, the other of said edges forming the bottom of said hanger portion and abutting said rear section.

2. A one-piece holster blank including,

a flat body having front and rear faces,

a hanger portion offset to one side of the vertical axis of said body, a first side edge of said hanger portion extending downwardly in a continuous line to form one side of said body,

said hanger portion having a lower free edge disposed substantially transverse to said vertical axis and extending from the other side edge of said hanger por- 4 tion to a point short of said first side edge of said References Cited in the file of this patent body, E the area of the body extending laterally from the A UNITED STATES PAT NTS vertical axis of the body away from said lower free Shelton June 1917 edge being foldable backwardly onto the rear face of 5 1129 5,831 Allfirson 1919 the body below said hanger portion to form an article 2,951,622 Helm Sept' 1960 receiving pocket therebetween. 

1. A ONE-PIECE HOLSTER FOR FIREARMS, COMPRISING, IN COMBINATION, A BODY INCLUDING, A HANGER PORTION HAVING FRONT AND REAR FACES, A GUN POCKET INTEGRAL WITH THE HANGER PORTION AND INCLUDING, A FRONT SECTION PROJECTING OUTWARDLY FROM THE PLANE OF SAID HANGER PORTION AND A REAR SECTION FOLDED AROUND BEHIND SAID HANGER PORTION AND SECURED TO THE REAR FACE THEREOF, A SUBSTANTIALLY TRANSVERSE SLOT IN SAID BODY, THE TWO EDGES OF SAID BODY FORMING SAID SLOT DEFINING THE TOP OPENING OF SAID POCKET, ONE OF SAID EDGES FORMING THE TOP OF SAID FRONT SECTION, THE OTHER OF SAID EDGES FORMING THE BOTTOM OF SAID HANGER PORTION AND ABUTTING SAID REAR SECTION. 